Thursday, July 8, 2010

Every year it seems there's a new Cinderella, usually American, who emerges early in the U.S. Women's Open. Think Michelle Wie, Stacy Lewis, Mariajo Uribe, Jean Reynolds--just to name a few recent ones. Well, go ahead and add Kelli Shean to that list. The 22-year-old Arkansas Razorback from South Africa is -2 with the long par-3 8th and the short par-5 9th left to play. She has a great chance not only to become the 1st player this week to post an under-par round, but also to break 70.

Oh, and remember Alexis Thompson, who missed her 1st cut as a professional just a few weeks ago? Well, she's only +1 with 4 tough finishing holes ahead of her.

[Update 8 (6:41 pm): Wow! Walkoff birdie for Amy Yang to join Shean and Park at 70! Now it remains to be seen if Brittany Lang, who's -2 with 4 to play on the back, can surpass then. This would be an amazing week for Lang to finally get her putter going!]

[Update 17 (7:12 pm): Disappointing 77s for Juli Inkster and Anna Nordqvist, but not as bad as Hee-Won Han's 83. Still, it would be hard to say that Oakmont humiliated anyone today. Where are those scores in the triple digits, or even over 90, that everyone was throwing around as real possibilities?]

[Update 22 (7:25 pm): Looks like, in the end, about as many players are going to break 75 as fail to break 80. Even though scores were lower for the afternoon pairings at the top of the leaderboard, they were higher at the bottom, on average.]

[Update 23 (7:27 pm): Lang parred the treacherous, short 17th. Par on 18 would give her a 68!]

[Update 24 (7:28 pm): Min, meanwhile, had to settle for a 73 when she couldn't birdie the 9th.]

[Update 25 (7:33 pm): Missed taking note of eagles by Natalie Gulbis and Angela Stanford, I believe. Fortunately the USGA has a page for that!]

[Update 27 (7:49 pm): Seon Hwa hung in there for an opening 73 (T22 in the end). As for Brittany, she bogeyed it to settle for the only sub-70 round of a day, a fantastic 69. Don't ask what playing partner Momoko Ueda shot.]

[Update 28 (9:28 pm): Hound Dog's 1st-round overview is excellent as always, with details on the leaders' rounds, more on Shean, and the news that it's not Alexis but Lexi Thompson now!]

[Update 29 (9:36 pm): Nice profile of Shean by Beth Ann Baldry. In the list of Cinderellas that she added to mine, it's worth noting that neither of us came up with the name of the person who's now leading the tournament. But Birdie Kim beat Brittany Lang just as surely as she did Morgan Pressel!]